Aratani's Changes
by The Pea Pod in the Pumpkin Pie
Summary: Worried about his grandson, Sugoroku asks his estranged wife to try to help a junior high school aged Yuugi. The changes she brings will change the course of the entire story, as Aratani struggles to change Yuugi and Yuugi struggles to change what has happened in his family. Starts pre series, leads into actual series. Kaiba/Yuugi, Yami/Yuugi. YAOI WARNING.
1. Chapter 1

Muto Aratani was sitting outside painting when the mail came. Bees buzzed around her, looking for the flower fields that surrounded on all sides the little artist's retreat full of country cottages that she lived in.

"Shoo," she said, unafraid, brushing a bee out of the way. "If you can't find the flowers, you're drunk. Go home. I am not a flower."

It was the clothes she wore, Aratani knew. She was in her sixties, but she still wore bright purple and red colors, sweaters and scarves and dangling earrings, her hair tied up sensibly behind her. She didn't think young people had a monopoly on the cool look and she hated old Grandma clothes.

There was a little veranda in the back of her whitewashed cottage, looking out over a field dotted with trees. Dappled sunlight from the wood carvings in the roof washed over the bird feeder, the ivy climbing up the trellis, the patio chairs and umbrella, the hanging wind chimes. Cigarette butts were stubbed in an ashtray on the side, which was surrounded by little mint candy wrappers. Aratani was aware that cigarettes could kill you, but so could a car wreck.

Aratani contemplated her next move on the painting she was doing. It was not a flowery landscape, nothing so trite. Landscapes were for accomplished women who painted as a hobby, not for artists who lived off of their work. Her paintings were social commentaries full of bizarre images and sharp shapes and angles. The colors were bright, garish, and loud; they made themselves noticed.

She'd had her artwork shown in galleries a few times. She always sent a picture of her latest gallery to her estranged husband, because fuck him. She never got a reply back.

"Mrs Muto?" She heard the call and stood curiously, walking around the building to the front. Her dog was whining at the door; the postman standing there must have rung the doorbell. "Your mail." He handed her some bills, and a letter.

"Who the hell still writes letters?" she asked aloud, staring at it, puzzled. What was so important it couldn't have been put in an email? She looked up at the amused postman. "No offense."

"None taken," he said cheerfully, and walked with his bag of mail back toward his bicycle. That was how small the village retreat was.

"Oh, God," she said aloud to herself in dread as a thought came to her.

"What is it?!" he called, turning back around.

"I just realized who still sends letters," she called back in irritation. "My estranged husband."

The postman laughed and got on his bike. "Good luck, Mrs Muto!" He rode off.

Aratani humphed, hand on her hip. It was rather rude of him, she felt, to give her such a rotten piece of mail and then just leave her standing there. At last, she sighed, and went back inside her house. She sat down on the orange couch in front of the painting of a naked woman being choked to death - she'd found the painting so funny that she'd bought it, something she was not sure the artist had intended - and contemplated the letter.

"I could always disable the smoke alarms and set it on fire," she said aloud to herself thoughtfully. The dog sniffed at her hand and she continued, "Or I could just let Hoshi eat it." Then she paused again and sighed. "Damn my curiosity," she said aloud to herself, and opened the envelope to read the letter. Sure enough, it was Muto Sugoroku's writing.

Aratani,

I know we don't talk anymore. I'm sorry for bothering you. You had good reasons for leaving. But I think our grandson needs your help. You know I wouldn't write if it weren't urgent.

I can't really explain what's going on. You'd have to come to Domino City and see for yourself. But I think only you can help him. Me and his mother don't know how to. He doesn't know I've written to you about anything.

Please try to find it in your heart to come.

With love,

Sugoroku

"How cryptic," she said aloud to herself. "I notice Dad wasn't mentioned. Still a flake, then, eh?" Yuugi's Dad had left the family years ago, some asshole businessman, and they hadn't heard from him since. They'd switched Yuugi's family name to Muto because they didn't think Yuugi deserved the indignity of having to suffer under his father's surname. "And they're all still living in that shitty little city flat above the game shop?"

She sighed and looked away. She didn't have to go. She didn't really want to.

But she'd left home after their daughter had grown. Her grandson had gotten no such privilege. She'd left when he was still a little baby, too young to remember her.

"Well, it's not like I've ever done anything else for him," she said to Hoshi. "Fuck. I guess I'm going to Domino City." She stood, and paused. "What was his name again?" Then she rolled her eyes. "Oh, that's right. Sugoroku got to name him. His name is Yuugi."

Who the hell named their grandson "game" and then made him walk around like that?

* * *

Her friends and neighbors came over to bid her farewell before she got into her rented car with her suitcases to leave for Domino City.

"I could help you with those," one older man who wanted to get into Aratani's pants suggested.

"Do it and I'll cut off your left ear. You'll look like Vincent van Gogh," said Aratani flatly. She hefted her own suitcases into the trunk of the car.

"Why are you going to visit your asshole of a husband again?" one of her closest female friends at the retreat asked skeptically.

"I'm not going for him. I'm going for my grandson. My husband says he needs my help. And Sugoroku may have made for a horrible heterosexual life partner with benefits, and a terribly irregular father, but he made for a good grandfather," said Aratani matter of factly. "I saw it in him before I left. I don't know what it is about Yuugi, but he certainly cares more for him than he cares about any of the rest of us."

She wasn't even really angry. Only stating facts. She slammed the trunk of the car shut and looked over everything with satisfaction. "Okay, Hoshi. Get in." She opened the back door of the car and Hoshi, a doberman, jumped into the back seat and sat there, panting. Aratani turned back to her worried and puzzled friends. "Maybe a change of scenery will be good for me. Give me some new painting inspiration," she said.

* * *

Aratani tried not to be nervous as she drove. Nerves, she thought, were beneath her. The upside down angel with her head cut off jangled, hung, below her rearview mirror. She twiddled with the radio and flipped it on, turning to a modern music station. She listened to modern music and liked listening to women who belted out songs like they were throwing up their lungs.

What would Sugoroku look like? What would he say? What the hell was so terribly wrong with Yuugi? Why would he need her help in particular? How would he react to seeing her? Would he hate her, for leaving?

Good questions, all, she thought sarcastically. If a bit melodramatic. Aratani despised melodrama.

The drive was long, but the change of scenery was interesting and she didn't mind long drives. When she and Hoshi finally got there, the difference between Domino City and the artist's retreat was obvious. Everything was alien in Domino. Tall buildings, crowded sidewalks, crowded everything. Graffiti. Noise. Smoke. The smell of gas. All manner of odd looking people in the streets. Everything seemed grayer, somehow.

She'd escaped this place and now she was voluntarily coming back. She regretted the decision already.

She sighed. "I must be insane," she muttered to herself, and drove on toward Sugoroku's Kame Game Shop. Her family lived in the flat above it.

She found a parking space near the shop and got out of the car. "Wait here," she told Hoshi, slamming the car door behind her (Aratani was a firm believer that you never did anything halfway, from spitting to shutting doors). She got out, crossed the street, and stood in front of the shop for a moment, expressionless. Then the door opened and someone came out - and there was Sugoroku, small and stooped, gray bearded and wearing overalls.

His eyes widened and he froze. They stared at one another for a moment.

"The building still looks like a pregnant prostitute," Aratani observed. "You're fatter."

Sugoroku snorted and smiled. "You did always know just how to break the ice, Aratani," he said with far too much fondness in his voice. She'd dreaded this. He hadn't gotten over her. Then he smirked. "Your figures still deserve a two thumbs up."

He was either lying or blind. She'd gotten fatter, too, though she supposed she was still small and curvy.

"Down, Fido, I ain't here for you," Aratani drawled. "Now where's the kid -?"

Her question was answered for her. Out came what could only be Muto Yuugi.

"Grandpa, where's -?" He paused, looking up at her. "Um, hello. Who are you?"

Aratani stared down at him, expressionless once more, wondering how to answer that. What was she supposed to say? I'm the bitch who abandoned your family. Yeah. That would go over well. She called his Dad a flake, but in some ways wasn't she just as bad?

Muto Yuugi would be in junior high now, but he was just as small as his grandfather had always been. His clothes did nothing for his figure, his black, gold, and red hair was curled up into spikes that made his face look like an unusually pale tomato, and he looked shy, retiring, wimpy, and innocent bordering on stupid. His eyes were his only nice feature, wide, nicely shaped violet ones.

"I'm your grandmother," she said at last bluntly. Yuugi's eyes widened and he turned to his grandfather.

"Yuugi." Sugoroku smiled. "This is your grandmother Aratani. She's come to visit."

A peculiar expression passed across Yuugi's face. His shoulders hunched, his chin ducked, and he looked up at her hesitantly. "Hello," he said. He didn't like her because she'd left, but he was too shy to say anything and he was trying to avoid a fight. Where the hell had he gotten that from? Certainly not from his mother or his grandparents.

"You don't like that I'm here," said Aratani.

"Well, I -"

"You should say what you really think, Yuugi, or you'll spend the rest of your life letting people walk all over you. I don't mind that you don't like me here, I expected it. I'm a selfish, heartless bitch. I abandoned your family, right?"

Yuugi's eyes were huge with shock. Aratani's expression was still veiled.

"You don't have to like that I'm here, kid," she said. "You just have to treat me upfront and avoid kicking me out onto the street."

Yuugi frowned. He muttered something, ducking his head again.

"Louder, honey."

"I don't like you because you're too much like my father," Yuugi said at last audibly, still not looking at her.

"We really need to work on your confrontational skills," said Aratani. "But thanks for the honesty. Now do you mind helping me carry my suitcases? That way I don't throw out my back and you can avoid the ultimate indignity of having to pay for my medical expenses." Her voice was heavily sarcastic and abrasive. Aratani got that way when she was uncomfortable, which she usually was around timid people.

She and this kid were going to have one hell of a time.

* * *

Aratani was to room with her daughter. A camp bed of sorts had been set up in her daughter's bedroom in the above-shop flat. She passed by Yuugi's room on the way, glancing it over curiously. He was very messy, and he'd inherited his grandfather's obsession. Toys, games, and models were littered all over the desk, bed, and floor.

It was almost like that was all he ever did with his time.

Yuugi and Sugoroku set Aratani's suitcases down inside Kaneko's room. Kaneko was standing there, hands on her hips, scowling as she surveyed her mother. Hoshi trotted in behind Aratani and Kaneko gave the animal a distasteful look.

There was an uncomfortable silence. Yuugi and Sugoroku quickly ducked out and shuffled away, sensing tension between two women and practically running from it screaming.

"You came," said Kaneko at last, her features softening. "Thank you."

"I'll try to do whatever I can. I don't think the kid likes me very much," said Aratani honestly.

"Just give him some time. Yuugi's the gentle, forgiving sort," said Kaneko.

Aratani snorted. "Well," she said, "he sure as fuck didn't get that from me."

* * *

They had dinner together, sitting around the table in the quiet. "... I'll have to start cooking," said Aratani at last, chewing. "I have some Thai recipes I want to show you all."

"So you'll be staying long?" said Yuugi curiously.

The adults exchanged a look. "For a while," said Aratani noncommittally, going back to what she'd been eating. "So what about you?"

"Huh?" Yuugi blinked in surprise.

"Tell me about yourself. You're tiny and you have issues with confrontation, that's all I know about you," said Aratani bluntly. "Likes, dislikes, interests..."

"I like games," said Yuugi, "and models, puzzles, toys."

"What's your favorite?"

She'd expected him not to be able to answer immediately, but he could. "The Millenium Puzzle," said Yuugi, smiling.

Aratani looked over at Sugoroku with a raised eyebrow. "You let him play with your Ancient Egyptian artifact? The gold puzzle you took from that teenage unknown Pharaoh's tomb, way back in the day when archaeologists were still allowed to keep things they found? You let him play with that?"

"He's been trying to solve it since he was seven years old," said Sugoroku, amused. "Found it in the back of the shop one day and hasn't put it down since."

"Damn, that's impressive," said Aratani honestly.

"Why?" Yuugi drooped. "It's been years and I haven't finished it."

"But you haven't given up on something important to you. That shows tenacity." Yuugi looked up. "I don't like to preach, but never let anyone shame you for sticking to something, kid. Do you know how amazing it would be if you solved that goddamn thing? Sugoroku sent it to great minds all over the world, with only the caveat that they weren't allowed to use digital computing to figure out the puzzle. None of them could solve it. If you solved it, that would be a very great thing.

"Great things take time. The hard things are always the most important." Aratani went back to her meal. Yuugi was beaming at her, and Sugoroku was looking at her with gentle fondness.

So that was where he'd gotten it from. They both forgave and forgot too easily.

"What about other things you like? Favorite books, music, movies?" she continued.

"Uh, I... I honestly spend most of my time on gaming," said Yuugi uneasily. His self confidence, so quickly bolstered by an easy compliment, so eager to please, had failed him once again.

"Hm." Her suspicions confirmed, Aratani continued with her meal. She asked no more questions. Everyone else sat there, wishing they knew what she was thinking.

Everyone except Kaneko. Used to that kind of thing from her mother, she just rolled her eyes.

* * *

Aratani watched out the window as Yuugi walked home from school with his backpack the following day. A bunch of bullies were following him home, calling him names and shoving him, jeering. His shoulders hunched and his eyes squeezed shut, he walked faster, as if hoping they would all just go away.

Sugoroku went to the window beside her. "How are his grades?" she asked without looking.

"Not wonderful," said Sugoroku with the kind of blunt honesty she had always been able to match. "You see what I mean?" he said quietly.

"Yes. I have this under control," said Aratani, expressionless. "Now go away. I need him to answer some questions while you're not around to answer them for him."

Sugoroku quickly retreated into the back of the shop.

Aratani sat off to the side of the shop, doing a crossword puzzle. She looked up idly as Yuugi came in. "Walk home with your friends?" she asked.

"I, uh... I don't really have any friends," Yuugi said, caught off guard.

"Don't talk to people much?"

"Not really."

"Ah." Aratani continued with her crossword puzzle.

"I - I do have one friend," said Yuugi defensively. "Her name is Mazaki Anzu. I've known her since elementary school."

"But she wasn't there today?"

"Uh - she was hanging out with some other people," said Yuugi evasively.

More popular people, Aratani translated. "What do you guys do when you do hang out together?"

"Uh - whatever Anzu wants to do. Just as long as not too many people see us."

Aratani looked up. "That guy walking home with you was pretty hot."

Yuugi looked horrified. "What -? Which one -? Never mind, they're all hideous! And, ew, they're way too young for you!"

"What about Anzu? Is she hot?"

Yuugi blushed furiously. That was a yes. "What is with all these questions?!"

"Is it a crime to want to get to know my own grandson?"

Yuugi's jaw clenched and he looked away.

"You have something to say," said Aratani. "Say it."

"You - you can't just waltz in here and get to know me now after you've been gone all this time!" Yuugi forced out, still looking away.

"You resent me for leaving your grandfather."

"Yes!"

"Do you want to know why I did?"

Yuugi at last looked around - cautious, but curious. "I'd... be interested to know what you had to say," he said at last, frowning.

Aratani nodded. "... Sugoroku is a wonderful grandfather," she said, "an excellent gamer, and overall a good man. But he was not a good husband and father. He was never home when your mother was growing up, always off on some adventure and scheme or another. And I was always the second class citizen. I didn't even get a hand in naming you. I woke up one day and realized I'd spent a good twenty-five years catering to someone else.

"If your grandfather seems to miss me, it's only because you only realize how good you have it when it's gone."

Yuugi stood there, frozen in surprise. Perhaps, Aratani thought, he could be taught not to treat people like his grandfather had.

But for now, she stood. "The only thing I regretted was leaving you," she said, and she left Yuugi standing there in the shop's entrance with a lot to think about.

He would ask his grandfather, tentatively but emotionally, about it later. "She remains," said his grandfather, eyes sorrowful, "the biggest mistake of my life."

His grandmother left, his grandfather was the reason why, his father wasn't around, his mother was always angry. Yuugi should have learned it long ago - even the people he loved and admired most weren't perfect.

* * *

Later, Sugoroku sidled up next to her at the stove over dinner that night. "So?" he murmured. "What have you decided?"

Aratani reeled off her findings. "His appearance makes him look like a nerd, his grades are subaverage, he has the self confidence of a sheet of fungus, he's physically incapable of even verbally confronting someone, he's obsessed with gaming and has no idea about any of his other likes and interests, he's so antisocial I'm amazed he talks at all, he idealizes the only girl willing to spend any time with him, he's the perfect bully victim, he has no idea how to treat women or significant others properly, and he's bisexual and he doesn't realize it."

Sugoroku blinked. "Damn," he said at last. "It's only been twenty-four hours."

"That's why you called me in," said Aratani bluntly. "Don't worry. I'll handle it."

"There's one thing you've missed out on," said Sugoroku evenly. "Creep up to his bedroom right now. Don't let him know you're there. Watch him for about a minute."

Curious, Aratani did so.

Yuugi was alone, bent over his desk with his shoulders hunched by the light of a lamp. He was working on the Millenium Puzzle. But even as she watched, he sighed and stopped, drooping, staring ahead of himself with a dead, blank sort of expression. He sighed and put his head in a hand. He looked more tired, with dark circles under his eyes.

He'd been wearing makeup, she realized. So he didn't look so horribly tired and depressed. He just sat there like that in the silence for a while.

She thought about his life: no friends, a crush who didn't really enjoy being seen with him, bullies he was too frightened to confront, a crummy flat above a shop as a home, and two close family members who had abandoned him.

Aratani's anger made her rally. Muto Yuugi needed her help. Badly. Her grandson needed her, and she was going to deliver if it killed her. She had a list, and was checking it twice. She was going to go in chronological order, and deal with each thing as it came up.

It was time to get started.


	2. Chapter 2

"Yuugi," said Aratani when he came in, harried from his bullies, after school the next day. "Come with me. We're going shopping."

And she walked right out the front door past him.

"Grandma - wait -!" Yuugi called, panicked.

His bullies went to to jump her and she slammed the leader's head with her giant purse. He bent over, hissing, clutching his skull. Then she kicked his shins out from under him and he fell over.

"Get the hell out of my way!" she barked at the punks.

They scampered off. Yuugi stared, fearful and awed. Aratani turned to him and pointed. "You," she said aggressively, "come with me."

Yuugi followed behind her, cowed. "Uh... where are we going?"

"Yuugi, do you like the way you look?"

"Yuugi began blustering. She gave him a flat look and he winced. "... No," he admitted honestly. Aratani nodded. "We're fixing that," she said.

She took him to a large indoor shopping mall and took him to get new clothes, then a new haircut. She sort of let him lead the way. "What would you buy and wear if price weren't an issue and you weren't worried about what other people would think?" she asked him.

In clothing, he sort of went for the cool urban look: Dark, earthy colors. Slim fit pants, sneakers, jackets, and ties. Belts and wrist watches. She let him get an earring.

"My mother will kill me," he said, sitting in the chair.

"I'll handle your mother," Aratani promised.

"I'll look stupid."

"Not with a new haircut, you won't."

"But -"

"Do you want me to do the damn piercing or not?" said the cosmetics lady, irritated.

"Yes," said Aratani.

"No," said Yuugi.

Aratani sighed and rolled her eyes. "You said you'd always wanted an earring. So we're getting you one. What's the big deal?"

"But - but this would be like you getting a tattoo!" Yuugi protested, wide-eyed.

"What are you talking about, you little shit? I already have a tattoo," Aratani growled. "Problem?" "Really? Where is it?" Yuugi frowned.

Aratani smirked. "Ask your grandfather."

Yuugi's face went beet red and at that exact moment the cosmetics lady did the ear piercing. Yuugi gave a fearful yelp, and then Aratani and the cosmetics lady grinned and gave each other a thumbs up.

"Don't worry," said Aratani, when Yuugi looked utterly terrified. "Piercings are way easier than tattoos. You want to get rid of it? Just stop wearing stuff there and the hole closes up. It's not that fucking hard."

Yuugi got an earring and some warnings about cleaning the ear so it didn't get infected. Aratani paid, and they set off again. They got him a new haircut - "less hair gel," Aratani mandated. They chose something long (chin length) and asymmetrical with a side part. With the streaks of multi color in his black hair, he looked nice. And Yuugi liked skateboarding, so they got him a skateboard to hang off of his backpack. Aratani thought it added a nice final touch.

Yuugi stood beside her as she had a cigarette in front of the mall later that afternoon. "I'm going to die," he gasped out, almost hyperventilating. "I'm going to die, I'm going to die, I'm going to die - If it won't be my bullies, it'll be my Mom -" He seemed to have lost all control of what he was saying.

"Hey, Doomship Three," said Aratani flatly in irritation, taking a drag from her cigarette - he hadn't bothered her about her smoking, so she was at least grateful for that; kid could pick his battles - and Yuugi turned to look at her. "Take a look at yourself in that window over there."

Yuugi went curiously over... and his eyes widened as he stared at himself for a long moment. "I look... good," he whispered, his eyes widening in awe. He turned around to her and beamed. "Thanks, Grandma!"

Aratani sighed and realized she was growing fond of the little nerd. How troublesome.

* * *

They went home and Yuugi's mother let out an actual scream. Yuugi winced, and Aratani stepped quickly in front of him. She usually didn't defend other people for them, but she was still working on Yuugi's problems with self confidence and aggression and she couldn't afford to let him take a hit on his newfound appearance right now.

Yuugi liked how he looked and Kaneko would just have to fucking deal with that.

"His bedroom is next," said Aratani flatly, her arms folded.

"Mother, I don't know how this is your idea of helping," said Kaneko fiercely, "but you can't just waltz in here and -"

"He picked the look out himself," said Aratani toughly. "That's important. Now, Yuugi." She turned to him and knelt down to his level. "I know you don't like fighting, but you have to know how to win as a little guy in a fight if you ever get into one. You go for the sensitive areas -" she began, demonstrating.

"Oh my God," said Kaneko, turning away in disbelief, as Yuugi's eyes widened.

"Go for the groin area - that hurts on ladies, too, by the way, it's all made of the same tissue - and also go for the eyes, nose, knees, and ankles. Go in fast, hit the sensitive area fast, get out fast. You're going to do it with me a few times until you get the basic idea. This could save your life."

Aratani stood up so Yuugi could practice fight moves along with her. Kaneko stormed from the room while Sugoroku watched from a distance with amusement that he was (badly) trying to hide.

Aratani was now teaching Yuugi how to "spit like he meant it." Yuugi looked confused. Sugoroku had missed his wife.

* * *

Yuugi went to school the next day and Anzu was in utter disbelief.

"Wow..." she said, obviously trying to hide her surprise. "You look - good."

"Don't sound so stunned," said Yuugi, smiling. It was the first time Mazaki Anzu, long legged and pretty with a bob of brown hair, had ever shown any terrible amount of interest or admiration in him. "I decided it was... time for something new." He shrugged, excited.

"Well. No doubt it is new," Anzu mused. Yuugi noticed she was more accepting of being seen with him in public after that.

* * *

"Mom, you can't just come in here and change everything." Aratani looked around. She'd been standing in the doorway of Yuugi's bedroom while he was gone, taking in its dimensions. Kaneko had just approached her and spoken seriously. "That's not what we asked you to do."

"That is in fact what you asked me to do. You asked me to help. I'm helping. Trust me, this all leads up to something," said Aratani, nonplussed.

"Trust you?!" Kaneko at last seemed to lose it. "Trust you?! You left when my son was two! I had to raise him without you! Do you know how many times I could have used you there?! How many times I wanted my mother's advice?!

"And now one word from Dad about something being wrong with Yuugi, and you come back for them and not for me?!"

There were angry tears in Kaneko's eyes, unshed, more a sign of fury than anything else.

Aratani looked down, stoical, and cleared her throat. "... I'm sorry," she said. "I'm sorry I left. But you're wrong on one point. I didn't come back for Dad. I came back for Yuugi, and Yuugi alone. When you were a kid and you needed something, I was always there for you. The same thing will apply to Yuugi until he becomes an adult."

"And when he does?!" Kaneko demanded, outraged. "What happens when he does become an adult?!"

"When he's an adult, he has to start figuring out his own problems," said Aratani softly. "As must we all. I made my mistakes. You made yours. He has to make his. That's how it works." She looked at her daughter sternly. "What stopped you from picking up a telephone, might I ask? I couldn't stay in a situation that made me unhappy just because my adult daughter was raising a child."

"You could at least have visited!" Kaneko shouted. She glared at her mother, her face working for a moment, and then she stormed away.

Sugoroku was standing on the staircase landing, looking after her quietly.

"You have to understand, Aratani," he said, for she looked lost. "Our Kaneko had to grow up very quickly. She took over the household because she had to. And now you're changing things without her consent."

"... I thought that was what you wanted," Aratani whispered.

Sugoroku smiled and walked over, placing a hand on her shoulder. "It is what we wanted," he said. "Both of us. I think she just... expected it would feel differently. Not like her estranged mother was usurping her place in her own house after over ten years."

It wasn't the first time Aratani had come back to ruins she herself had created and, well - expected them not to be ruined.

* * *

Yuugi was bullied even worse than usual walking home after school that day.

"What's wrong, freak?! Trying to look cool?"

"He looks gay!"

"Who was that the other day? Is your Grandma fighting for you now?!"

Pushing and shoving, laughing and jeering. Yuugi looked up, and saw the Kame Game Shop inside. He sprinted towards it - and out stepped Grandma Aratani.

Everyone screeched to a halt. "Shit, the crazy bitch is back..." Yuugi heard someone whisper and feeble, pathetic anger filled him.

"Grandma," he forced out through gritted teeth. "Please. I don't need you to fight for me."

"I'm not. You're fighting them yourself." Aratani steered Yuugi around by the shoulder to face his bullies.

"... What?"

Aratani made a come-forward motion. "Single file, gentlemen. He'll take you on one at a time."

Yuugi gulped, fearful. "I - I don't like fighting -"

But one kid had laughed and sprinted forward, fist spring backward for a hard punch. Yuugi remembered Grandma Aratani's words - and he kicked the guy's feet out from under him, letting his nose and face fall right into Yuugi's fist. It didn't take much strength or effort, only fast reflexes. Then the kid was down on the ground moaning, his nose bleeding.

Yuugi stared.

"Next," Aratani called flatly. The other kids backed up... and ran away. Yuugi stared after them.

Aratani leaned down to his level and smiled. "You see?" she said. "You did that all on your own. You just can't act afraid of them, Yuugi," she said. "You have to learn to stand up to them.

"You don't have to be loud about it. You don't have to say a thing. You just have to remain firm, hard."

* * *

Everyone was whispering at school the next day. Whispering about Muto Yuugi, of all people, knocking a kid bigger than him unconscious to the ground in a single blow.

Finally, at lunch, a great looming bully came up and stuck his face into Yuugi's. Anzu began to stand to defend him from where she was at a distance, but Yuugi held up a hand. "It's okay, Anzu," he said, trying to remain calm. He sounded much braver than he felt. "Can I help you with something?" he asked the bully, in a voice that barely trembled.

The entire lunch court was silent.

"You and me, after school, behind the gym," the guy spat. "Will I see you there?"

Yuugi took a deep breath, trying to channel his inner Grandma Aratani. What would she say? "I'll be there," he promised. The guy's eyes widened, as if in surprise. He backed away... and disappeared.

Grandpa may have taught him inner wisdom, but it was Grandma who taught Yuugi strength.

Anzu was bugging him about it all day. "You can't do this, you'll get slaughtered!" she pleaded with him angrily. She insisted on going with him behind the gym after school that day. Yuugi arrived - and found most of the school assembled.

He stepped into the circle amid whispers. The other kid wasn't there yet. Yuugi stood there, waiting, trembling. The fear, he felt, was worse than the beating itself would be.

Minutes passed... nobody showed up. Yuugi checked his new watch - and at last realized, in a sudden epiphany, that nobody was going to.

Bullies, he realized, were afraid of anybody who could fight back. It was all psychology.

He smiled, waved once to everybody, and put his hands in his pockets. He strolled out from the circle and off campus as Anzu, alongside everybody else, stared after him in surprise.

* * *

Yuugi and his grandmother redecorated his bedroom, which Aratani insisted was far too bland. Yuugi and Aratani bickered playfully back and forth as they redecorated. Yuugi had learned how to stand up to his grandmother by force - and if he could stand up to his grandmother, he reasoned, he could stand up to anyone. He became fluent in the art of calm sarcasm.

Grandma Aratani didn't seem quite as abrasive as she used to be, but perhaps that was just because he was getting used to her. He began to realize, sitting down to dinner with his bigger family every night, that he wished she wouldn't have to eventually leave.

He wished it could be that easy - he thought, watching his grandmother and grandfather flit around each other in a confusing dance, his mother watching uneasily. He wished it could be that easy, for two people to forgive each other. Trying to bring his grandmother and grandfather together, he had them teach him gaming together, exploring an obsession they both shared - a card game called Duel Monsters. Reluctantly, each having their own deck, they began to teach him together.

He did what he could to bring his family in as one.

It was nice, he reflected, for his bedroom to have a bit more character besides the constant and messy obsession with gaming. It was a blend between contemporary, industrial, and modern, with lots of clean, neutral, bold lines, not a lot of patterns, and raw elements like brick and metal. The color scheme was a bit dark. His new desk was metal. His shelving was brick. So he had a new look and a new room.

Little did he know. This was just the beginning.

* * *

The Millenium Puzzle's shadow magic, as sentient as it was, was changing its mind.

The original plan had been for the creator to become a host for the dead soul. The dead soul would take over, largely replace, and protect the host.

But the problem became when the host began to change. Magic was its own science. It had rules. And as the host needed less protection and began to gain a stronger sense of himself... the beginnings of a new plan formed in the works. His soul changed as well.

The dead soul would still have to work off of the host's body - its Japanese origins, its modern world information, its most recent memories at the time of completion.

But it really was inevitable - the dead soul would have to have its own body. It would appear, upon completion, near the host, connected to the Puzzle around the host's neck.

The Millenium Puzzle didn't see results, outcomes, or fallouts. Impartial, it saw only the science of magic.


	3. Chapter 3

Yuugi was sitting in his bedroom playing on his Gameboy one night in bed, when Aratani came in and slammed a pile of rented books, movies, and CDs in front of him.

"Uh..." He stared. "What's this?"

"You love gaming, and that's fine," said Aratani firmly. "But your entire life, Yuugi, cannot consist of gaming."

"Why not?" he muttered, mostly to himself.

She answered anyway. "Because it's not healthy," she said. "Think of all you're missing out on because all you ever do is gaming. Think of all the things you might enjoy that you've never gotten to enjoy." Yuugi remained looking unconvinced. Aratani sighed. "Yuugi..." he said, pained. "I can't believe I have to point this out, but if you gain other interests you could join some school clubs and maybe, like, meet some people. Make friends?"

She looked at him as if this was patently obvious. Yuugi's eyes slowly widened. "Oh," he said softly. "But - but I'm no good at sports!" He frowned.

"But I'm no good at sports," Aratani mocked him in a high voice. "Fuck off," said Yuugi. He'd learned this response from Aratani herself.

"Yuugi," said Aratani flatly, "the only hobbies in the world are not gaming and sports!" And she stomped, flat-footed, from the room.

He was desperate enough to make friends that Yuugi decided to try it, as embarrassing it was to admit this even to himself. He stared down at the pile in consternation, remembering Grandma Aratani's words to him. "Maybe, like, meet some people. Make friends?"

He sighed. "Alright," he said aloud. "I'll try it."

Talking to himself. He was turning into Grandma Aratani.

He started on the books, music, and movies she'd slammed in front of him, not really sure where else to begin. Slowly, over the following months, he made his way through many books, music, and movies.

He noticed a few trends.

He loved books that featured heroism, adventure, and lots of imagination. The more fantastical, the better. Romance was good, too. In music, he preferred listening to the lyrics first. He loved lyrics that told a story, that gave interesting little details. Lyrics that didn't tell a story, no matter how catchy the beat was to dance to, did not interest him.

But movies were his favorite.

Movies combined all his loves - storytelling and imagination - into one fantastic visual spectacle. He joined film club at school, slowly making more friends from there. He started out writing scripts and screenplays, moving from there into writing poetry, stories, and song lyrics. He started taking after school classes in creative writing, and made even more friends there.

Encouraged by Yuugi's new fascination with words and people, Aratani introduced books on the other humanities to him: psychology, anthropology, sociology. Slowly, as he read more, his grades began to pick up and improve.

Yuugi was not only imaginative and interested in the abstract, he also specialized in being super credulous. Alternative medicine, for example, interested him - meditation, reiki, acupuncture, yoga, ASMR, herbal teas and tinctures that he began learning how to prepare for himself. He made amateur ASMR videos as a way to give back to what he was watching - Yuugi found he enjoyed being a healing presence.

Aratani and Yuugi connected over her art and his writing. They began attending everything from galleries to open mic nights together, encouraging one another's artistic hobbies.

Sugoroku was suspicious at first. "You're trying to get my grandson off of gaming," he told Aratani flatly.

"Relax, Grandpa," said Yuugi worriedly, staring between them from below. "I'm still working on games and puzzles, too. Hey," he said on an inspiration, "why don't you come with us to an open mic night and see how cool they are for yourself?"

He still hadn't given up on his dream of convincing Grandma Aratani to stay.

Sugoroku and Aratani stared at one another across the distance for a moment. Aratani's lips curled, silently daring him to come.

"Alright," said Sugoroku at last, as Aratani paused in surprise. "I'll get my coat."

As they were walking through the evening city behind Grandma Aratani, Sugoroku whispered to Yuugi, "I've never done this before."

"You never went to an art show with her?" said Yuugi disbelievingly. "But they were so important to her!"

Sugoroku winced. "I know," he said. "It's bad."

"Damn, Grandpa." Yuugi sighed and shook his head. "You'd better not screw this up. I'm giving you a chance here."

It turned out to be a wonderful evening. They had a late night coffee first. Grandpa and Yuugi got into one of their usual, bickering arguments about the Millenium Puzzle - Sugoroku wanted to sell it, Yuugi wouldn't give it back because he wanted to solve it - until finally Aratani cut in.

"We both know neither of you are ever changing the other's mind," she said flatly, "and Yuugi has the Puzzle. I don't like redundancy." She glared as they looked sheepish. "Now. Let's enjoy our coffee."

"So what are we going to see?" Sugoroku asked curiously.

Aratani began laying out the plan for the evening, her eyes lighting up. Sugoroku watched her, chin in his hand, with a small smile. He made sure to ask her plenty of polite questions, he sat respectfully through the whole evening's performance, and when he held out his hand, after a while, she quietly slipped her hand into his.

Something had changed, Aratani registered. Not just tonight but ever since she'd gotten back.

Sugoroku treated her much more respectfully and deferentially. She was thoughtful.

Yuugi gave a small, secret smile from beside them. Success.

* * *

Kaneko came into Yuugi's bedroom that night and sat down beside him on the bed. "Maybe they shouldn't get back together," she started out with, troubled.

Yuugi looked up in cautious surprise from his homework. "Why?" he asked. "They seem like good partners. They seem pretty happy to me."

Sugoroku and Aratani were laughing and talking together downstairs.

"You didn't hear them constantly fighting growing up," said Yuugi's mother. "What if the same thing happens again?"

"But what if it doesn't?" said Yuugi gently. "What if they decide not to give it a try, and it would have worked out if they had? How tragic would that be?"

"When did you get to be so wise?" Yuugi's mother sighed, looking tired. She was silent for a moment. "I just... don't see how you can both forgive her so easily for leaving."

"I forgive her for pulling out of a bad situation, and doing what made herself happy," said Yuugi simply. "It's not like it was easy, but I have. She's not like Dad, Mom. Unlike Dad, she actually came back when we said we needed her."

Kaneko was silent for a while.

* * *

Anzu was suddenly hanging around with Yuugi a lot more often at school.

"Anzu," he said one day while they were walking home from school, "not that I'm not glad for the company, but why the sudden interest in my life?"

Anzu paused, and laughed nervously. "What are you talking about, Yuugi? I've always been interested in your life!"

Yuugi stared at her solemnly for a moment. "Okay," he said, clearly disbelieving and slightly annoyed, and he kept walking. Sometimes Anzu felt she was still getting used to this more upfront Yuugi.

"Wait!" she called after him. He paused, and turned back around. "I just... I'm seeing sides of you I never saw before. You're... cooler." She shrugged helplessly.

Yuugi should have been happy with that answer. It took him a minute or two of thinking to figure out why he wasn't.

"So - when I was under confident, I didn't look good, and I mostly liked gaming, when I was going through tough times, you didn't want to be seen with me. I was someone to be defended, I wasn't an equal. But now that I'm happier, I look better, I have more friends, and I feel better about myself... I'm okay to be seen with. I'm not embarrassing anymore."

He looked at her quietly, speaking slowly, as if confirming. He looked hurt. "Ye - Well - No - I mean -" Anzu stammered out.

"... You know, Anzu," said Yuugi, "you're really pretty and you mean well, but sometimes you're not a very nice person."

And he walked away, his all consuming admiration fading.

"Yuugi! Wait!" Anzu called.

Yuugi kept walking. He didn't put up with bad treatment in the same way he used to.

When he got home, his grandparents - who were looking after the shop together and had been on much friendlier terms lately - looked up from the counter in surprise. "What's wrong?" said Sugoroku, frowning.

Yuugi told them what had happened, feeling downcast.

"She's a popular pretty girl," said Sugoroku patiently, unusually serious. "It is to be expected."

"I suspected something like that," Aratani admitted.

"Then why didn't you tell me?" Yuugi demanded with big eyes.

"It was one of those things you needed to figure out for yourself," said Aratani, reserved.

* * *

Yuugi lay in bed that night, flipping through pictures on his phone, the ones he'd taken with Anzu. He'd been hoping for heartbreak, but there weren't enough pictures, he realized.

How silly he was, to idolize someone all that time and not realize she didn't even really take any photos with him.

Then someone called. It was ten at night, and it was Anzu's number. Yuugi contemplated not answering, but in the end the ache inside him won out.

"Hello?" he said, answering the phone.

"Yuugi... I'm sorry." Anzu's voice came, quiet and ashamed. "I've been sitting here at home, thinking about what you said. And you're right. I never treated you very well.

"In elementary school, you offered a game to me and I broke your gameboy after getting angry at it for losing. That's how we met. You were so forgiving of me, but I never treated you any better after that. I took your forgiveness for granted, because everyone always forgives me for everything. I didn't like being seen with you, hardly ever hung out with you, especially once we'd gotten older. You were just this nerd I never really paid any attention to you. Yeah, I sometimes defended you from bullies, but any generally nice person would do that.

"I've looked down on you this entire time. And I'm sorry. I - I'd like to try to be a better friend from now on, if you'll have me."

It was a long speech, but Yuugi was smiling by the end. "I'll take that promise," he said, "from my oldest friend."

"Thank you," said Anzu, with clear relief in her voice. "Now, Yuugi, I have to ask, and I don't want to make this awkward, but... Did you ever have a crush on me?"

"I used to," said Yuugi, realizing as he said it that it was true.

"I'm glad you don't. Not because I don't like you, that's not the reason at all," said Anzu, surprising Yuugi. "But... Yuugi, you've really blossomed. Lots of people like you at school now. You've proven yourself to people.

"And you deserve someone who already sees your worth without you trying to purposefully toss it into their faces. You're a great guy, and you deserve that."

"... Thank you, Anzu," Yuugi whispered.


	4. Chapter 4

Yuugi fiddled with the Millenium Puzzle in his hands underneath the school desk. He worked on it whenever he was thinking about something and wanted a way to distract his hands, even taking it in his book bag with him to school. He'd told Anzu about it, and she thought it was "super cool that he was solving an unsolvable Ancient Egyptian puzzle."

He was watching the guy two seats down from him. It was lunchtime. He looked at his long legs and imagined himself sitting in his hap. Looked at his hands and imagined - Yuugi blushed and looked away.

Now that he was paying attention to other people besides Anzu, he'd noticed something troubling. He was suddenly noticing much more how attractive girls were... Which was fine. There was just one problem.

He was noticing the same thing about guys.

"Hey, Yuugi." A friend behind him poked his shoulder curiously. "You going to that party on Friday?"

Anzu looked up curiously from her place beside Yuugi.

Yuugi tore his focus back to the present and swallowed, trying to pretend like nothing was wrong. He turned to his friends. "Yeah, I was thinking about going for a couple of hours..."

But the problem remained.

* * *

Yuugi was fiddling with the Puzzle, frowning and looking troubled again, at the table before dinner that night.

"Yuugi," said Grandma flatly, "something's wrong. What is it? Whatever it is, it's been bothering you for days."

Yuugi hesitated uncharacteristically.

"I can't stand mopey-looking people," said Grandma. "Out with it."

Yuugi swallowed, still staring down at the Puzzle, his face hot. "What would you say... if I said... that I was attracted to guys as well as girls?"

There was dead silence in the kitchen for a moment.

Then Grandma sighed and sat back. "Oh, thank God," she said. "He finally figured it out."

Mom collapsed back against the kitchen counter in relief.

"I told you he'd figure it out before high school." Sugoroku pointed at Aratani. "You owe me money."

"You guys were betting on when I'd figure out I was bi?!" Yuugi yelped. "Wait, you... already knew? And you're not mad?" He blinked up at them with big eyes.

They looked back at him with gentle fondness. "Yuugi, we don't care," said his Mom. She shrugged. "So you like both girls and guys. So what?"

"Yeah, that's not even close to the weirdest thing about you," said Grandpa cheerfully. Yuugi sighed. "Thanks, Grandpa," he said sarcastically.

"I still think you should give me that Puzzle."

Yuugi rallied immediately, clutching the Puzzle closer to himself. "No way!"

And just like that, life returned to normal. It was like his family didn't even mind at all.

Later, though, when she thought no one was looking, Grandma Aratani slipped some books about feminism and gay rights underneath his bedroom door. Ever curious when it came to books, he read them, and ever the idealist, he came to take on their cause vigorously.

Very soon, Yuugi was talking about politics heatedly at his Mom, who looked exasperated. Aratani watched on with satisfaction. "You ruined him," grumbled Sugoroku, but there was no bite to it. He knew how much she had done for Yuugi, how important it was that he knew people out there supported him. Aratani had been the first to figure out Yuugi's sexuality and tell the others at all.

"You'd better fucking believe I did," she said proudly as she watched him.

* * *

Everyone was curious about Yuugi's new interest in gay rights and feminism, but the only one who ever learned the truth was Anzu.

"Wow. Bi, huh?" she said thoughtfully. "Yeah, that makes a lot of sense."

Yuugi relaxed. "You're not upset either," he realized, exhausted and relieved.

"Of course not," she said innocently. "Now we can talk about guys together. It's a win-win."

"I would appreciate you keeping it to yourself," said Yuugi.

"No problem." Anzu locked arms with him and smiled. "Your secret's safe with me." She talked him through his first fledging crushes and disenchantments, and true to her word, she never told a soul.

Yuugi was thankful for the people who cared about him.

* * *

Yuugi finally asked Grandma Aratani one night. He'd just fed Hoshi scraps under the table, and finally got up the nerve. "Grandma... it seems like we've become really happy as a family. Is there any chance you could stay?" he asked hesitantly.

Grandma paused in the heavy silence. Looked up. "That was never the plan," she said, more as an observation than as an argument. She was hard to read.

"But you're the one who always says life never goes according to plan," said Yuugi quickly. Aratani and Sugoroku were watching each other. "I'd like you to stay," said Sugoroku quietly.

"... I need to know," said Aratani at last, "if everything's going to go back to the way it was. After I decide I'm going to stay."

"You mean how it was before you left?" Grandpa laughed humorlessly, love and pain in his eyes. "I don't even think that would be possible if I wanted it to be," he said sadly.

Grandma was still staring at him guardedly.

"I don't know how it's going to work," said Sugoroku softly. "But I'd like to explore a new dynamic and find out. With you."

Aratani looked around at her family, at all three hopeful faces - and she realized the answer was easy.

"I'll give it a try," she said. "I'll stay for the time being. Let's see if we can make this work."

Yuugi stood from the table and gave her a gigantic hug as everyone started cheering. Aratani chuckled in spite of herself. It was her first real smile in over ten years.

She moved back into her room with Sugoroku. None of her friends back at the retreat understood, but she'd never needed them to.

* * *

Yuugi, Anzu, and their collected friends stood in front of Domino High on their first day. Yuugi took a deep breath. The Millenium Puzzle was, as usual, in his backpack.

"Let's go," he said determinedly, and walked onto the Domino High campus for the first time.


End file.
